


A Piece of my Heart

by ThebanSacredBand



Series: A Piece of Me [2]
Category: The Witcher (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Geralt is a horse girl, Roach is Geralt's daemon, Sad Ending, Vaguely follows the netflix timeline, except eskel appears, implied Geralt/Jaskier kind of, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:48:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27270715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThebanSacredBand/pseuds/ThebanSacredBand
Summary: The first hint Jaskier and Buttercup are ever given is a growled “Don’t touch Roach”.They don’t realise it for what it is, at the time. The tone is clearly a warning, a threat, and so Jaskier darts his hand away, and decides that walking is a fine alternative for riding, anyhow, and would be excellent for his calves.
Series: A Piece of Me [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1991179
Comments: 6
Kudos: 84





	A Piece of my Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Me, over eight months ago: ah cool that was some fun world building I'll probably never touch it again  
> Me, an hour and a half ago: HOLY SHIT WHAT IF
> 
> And suddenly, this was born
> 
> If you've not read the first one, have no fear! All you really need to know is that Roach is Geralt's daemon, and Buttercup is Jaskier's (a European Robin not that that comes up here)

The first hint Jaskier and Buttercup are ever given is a growled “Don’t touch Roach”.

They don’t realise it for what it is, at the time. The tone is clearly a warning, a threat, and so Jaskier darts his hand away, and decides that walking is a fine alternative for riding, anyhow, and would be excellent for his calves.

And Buttercup is fine with it too. She can just fly as far as she wants and nest on Jaskier’s shoulder when she gets tired. It’s not as if she’s heavy. She barely weighs more than a hat would.

(Even if she didn’t, even if she was something larger, Jaskier would carry her if she needed it. She’s _his._ )

The second hint that Jaskier and Buttercup get is the evening of the same day, when Geralt spends longer talking to Roach as he brushes her than he had spoken at all for the rest of the day.

They mention it, of course they do, they never stop talking between the two of them, but Geralt doesn’t respond to them, just keeps on brushing and talking to his horse. The fact that he hasn’t driven the bard and the bird away for their incessant chatter yet is enough, though, that they won’t dwell on strange habits.

Besides, he’s a Witcher. He needs a horse to get around, to carry his things and himself to safety. It makes sense that he would care about her.

The third hint arrives with a fellow Witcher.

Eskel is much more talkative than Geralt, and, surprisingly, at least to Jaskier and Buttercup, much less thorough with his horse. Instead, while Geralt is taking his time brushing down Roach, Eskel sits by the fire, telling stories to Jaskier and scratching behind the ears of a small goat that he introduced as Lil’ Bleater.

“Geralt’s always been an odd one,” he laughs, and, well, that explains Geralt’s horse thing, then.

The fourth hint should have been when Roach nuzzles up against Buttercup, ever so gently, conscious of the difference in size.

The fourth hint should have been when Geralt froze up and the contact, and then let out an almost silent sigh and a barely-there smile.

The trouble is, Buttercup and Jaskier were so shocked at the usually-bitey Roach being so delicate, that they missed the fourth hint all together.

The fifth hint Jaskier and Buttercup get sneaks up on them slowly.

The thing is, they spent a lot of time ~~hiding~~ hanging around in the stables before they left home, and they do know at least a little a bit about horses. They’ve watched horses get old before.

Time flow differently, weirdly, when you’re travelling the continent with little by way of routine, especially when your companion doesn’t age at all. But the sudden realisation that _Roach_ isn’t aging at all either strikes them out of the blue after an offhand comment from a devoted fan causes Jaskier to rapidly work out how long it _has_ been since he wrote ‘Toss a Coin’.

But then, hey. Magic monster hunters, maybe they have magic horses too. It’s not the most outlandish thing that’s happened to them since they started travelling with a Witcher, not even by a long shot.

The sixth hint, again, is one that Jaskier and Buttercup are barely conscious of. Largely because they’re barely _conscious_.

But there is _something_ , pushing at Jaskier’s mind even as he struggles to breath, something about riding Roach and being pressed into Geralt and feeling _something, something,_ even as he’s slipping away.

(Buttercup had fainted at the blast from the Djinn, and thus was of little-to-no help when Jaskier attempted to discuss it with her later).

The seventh hint is ridden in by Eskel. His name is Scorpion, he’s a horse and he is most definitely _not_ the same horse that Eskel had had last time.

“I’m sorry about your horse, Eskel,” chirps Buttercup.

“No need to be, he’s fine, just got a bit old.”

Buttercup and Jaskier share a glance with furrowed brows.

And the Lil’ Bleater pops her head up out of Eskel’s saddlebag with a loud bleat, not looking any different to the first time they had seen her.

The eight hint is when Geralt is sluggish and bleeding after a fight, and instead of hauling himself up to tend to Roach, like he always does, he tentatively holds the brush out towards Jaskier.

It feels like something _more_ , but for the life of them, Jaskier and Buttercup can’t quite figure out _what_.

The ninth hint sneaks up on the pair of them.

Jaskier is strumming his lute, while he and Buttercup work over the best way to word this song, when the people whom Geralt is hunting on behalf of start getting antsy, and walk towards Geralt’s bags, keen to steal what they want while the only protection is the weak bard.

“Don’t touch Roach!” Jaskier and Buttercup scream simultaneously, without even thinking about it.

It startles the would-be thieves for enough time that a kindly old man accompanied by two (very sexy) warriors is able to arrive to put a stop to it.

They don’t really get much time to think about quite _why_ they are so protective about Roach.

The tenth hint.

The tenth hint is enough for them to work out why.

The tenth hint is a kiss to Roach’s forehead on the way down the mountain, and the utter heartbreak that seems to flow through it. All the pieces fall together. Jaskier brushes tears out of his eye, and even Buttercup stops singing.

The tenth hint is too late.

**Author's Note:**

> Me, writing this: this won't be sad! How could this be sad?  
> Me, finishing this: oh. _That's_ how it could be sad
> 
> If it helps, I'm sorry? Also I won't promise any more of this series but like if some idea hits me then who knows!
> 
> Please let me know what you think! :D You can find me on tumblr at [thebansacredbanned](https://thebansacredbanned.tumblr.com/)!


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